Posts Tagged ‘Basil Fawlty’

“Yeah, kinda,” Majumder said with a laugh, thinking of his new series, Majumder Manor.

“(Bob Newhart) had that beautiful old inn (in the 1980s series Newhart). Ours is a little more modern.

“But no, I actually have no desire to be Newhart. I want to be Fawlty Towers. That’s really where it’s at.”

Of course, Newhart and Fawlty Towers were scripted sitcoms. Majumder Manor – which debuts Jan. 7 on W – actually is hard to pigeon-hole when it comes to genre.

It’s part documentary, but it certainly isn’t boring and, in fact, is quite funny.

It’s also part reality series, but as Majumder puts it, “It’s real, it’s more real than reality. It’s too real to be reality TV.”

Majumder is a well-known Canadian comedian most widely recognized as a cast member on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 minutes, as well as for his dramatic roles on series such as 24, The Firm and Detroit 1-8-7.

But part of Majumder never left his home town of Burlington, Nfld. Population: “A couple of two-fours shy of 400.”

With rural Newfoundland towns struggling economically, it long has been Majumder’s dream to build a five-star, eco-friendly inn in Burlington. The idea is to provide lodging and restaurant options for tourists attracted to the area because of its intense beauty, and to revitalize – or as Majumder says, “vitalize, is that a word?” – the community.

Majumder Manor chronicles his efforts in this regard, as he interacts with the home-town people he has known his entire life. And fortuitously, Majumder’s fiancee Shelby Fenner, a true California girl, is on hand to provide built-in cultural comparisons.

During a recent interview with Majumder and Fenner, the former turned to the latter and said, “Shelby, how would you describe the food when you first went there (to Burlington)? Honestly, no filter.”

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Bill has been a Sun columnist, reporter and editor for 22 years. Previously was in Sports as Toronto Raptors beat writer and NBA columnist, he joined Entertainment in 2005 as a television and music critic before moving exclusively to TV. Prior to the Sun, he worked at the Montreal Daily News, the Orillia Packet & Times and the Sherbrooke Record.